Last-minute.com and you’re proud!

So, as always, the National Olympics Committee and, or whoever else is concerned, is here pretending as if they really care a lot about Rwanda having as many athletes as possible to qualify for the Olympic Games! Give me a break. The Beijing Olympics are just over two months away, and as it has become a tradition here, this is the time when Rwandan athletes are pushed a round and about to search for their qualification marks, sounds comical. I don’t know whether I am being negative or just realistic, but one thing for sure is that, no matter how much money is invested at this moment, I highly doubt if Rwanda has any more athlete(s) remaining with any real chance of qualifying for the Beijing Games. We should not forget that these people had four solid years to prepare the athletes for the Games’ qualifiers as well as for any eventualities like what they are faced with at the moment. As you read this, only two athletes have qualified for the Games and I hear the National. Olympics Committee, a body fully responsible for preparing athletes for Olympic Games, plans to send three more (athletes) to various European championship to search for the minimum standard required times before the deadline of July 30. Already, the three have been confirmed as Félix Ntirenganya (full marathon), Angéline Nyiransabimana (5.000m & 10.000m) and Slyvain Rukundo (5.000m). Unfortunately, when you engage some of the people responsible for preparing athletes for Olympic Games, it’s unbelievable to hear the dull excuses they give for doing things at the very last minute. No pride in doing things at the 11th min. Shamelessly or doing it just as cover up for their dim-witted little games, some individuals in the RNOC and the athletics federation as well as other sports bodies in the country have come up with one word to précis their ineffectiveness. Last-minute.com is the word, but what annoys me or rather turns me off completely is the fact that they arrogantly talk about without shame and by the look of it, to them it sounds as though it is something to be proud of! No, not in a million years. Only Dieudonné Disi (10.000m) and Epiphanie Nyirabarame (marathon) are the two athletes who have qualified for the Games and going by the current state of affairs, I can bet my job if anyone else can join the pair for the trip to Beijing. If things don’t change and for the better, the total number of Rwandan athletes expected to participate in the Beijing Games stands at just five, including the two runners, two swimmers and one in Paralympics. When people go about very important things like the Olympic Games in the manner our local sports administrators do, you guess something is seriously wrong somewhere. And the sooner the situation is arrested the better or else, Rwanda could find herself without representation come the 2012 Games in London. Trotting the poor athletes around the world this late in hope that one or two or even all of them would be able to get the needed result is certainly a far cry and on the financial side—that looks money wasted. Again, why on earth did they have to wait until this late to start pretending yet they had a whole four years to do whatever they’re fumbling with at the moment? Yes, I call it pretending and I have genuine reasons for it, probably. If only I had a say in RNOC affairs and thank God I don’t, I’d propose that the money being wasted to take the three athletes for European championships be channeled into better things like increasing allowances for those few athletes that have already qualified so that they’re well-motivated to compete against the best in the world. 2010 CAN/WC dilemma Rwanda’s sports administrators don’t cease to amaze--unfortunately for the wrong reasons in most cases. They’ll do anything and everything possible to attract criticism, sometimes unnecessary and at times well and over deserved. As we cry about RNOC and their persistent failure to learn from past mistakes, the Ministry of Sports too feel they shouldn’t be left out of the equation hence coming up with their own version of incompetence. If you think that I don’t have legitimate reasons to express my disappointment with the Sports Ministry and its officials, think about this. Home away from home’ Who could believe that Rwanda would face a prospect of playing her home 2010 World Cup and African Nation’s Cup qualifiers away from home? If you didn’t, then you must every reason to feel the same way I do. With less than two weeks before Amavubi Stars first qualifier at home to Mauritius, renovation work on Amahoro stadium is nowhere near being declared finished. South African Sports facility construction company, Ramatla Earth Works won the tender worthy over $500.000 to renovate the national stadium late last year. My sources in the Ministry of Sports tell me that work on the stadium is well behind schedule and not one else is to blame but themselves (top ministry officials). The Budget for the renovation work was approved last November by the cabinet with work supposed to start a month later (December), however, being our Rwanda and our obsession with Last-minute.com, work didn’t started until after three months. Because of a few people’s mistake or incompetence or whatever you want to call it, there is a possibility of Amavubi playing their ‘home’ qualifiers in one of the neighboring countries because Nyamirambo, until now does not meet international standards. As for now, we should keep fingers crossed that we don’t come to that situation—ideally, home games must be played at home and not ‘home away from home’. Do something This is serious, the situation doesn’t look good at all and unfortunately we don’t have a body, like a National Sports Council to look into the current situation regarding Rwandan sports. The money is always there to do things early enough but because the people responsible are obsessed with doing things at the last minute, everything ends up being a sham. And because we don’t have such bodies as the National Sports Council to regulate institutions like the NOC, Ferwafa and the others, the government should intervene before the situation reaches a point of no return. Maybe a special commission should be set up to investigate why sports in this country that looked to be on the up a few years ago, has declined so terribly yet the government keeps pouring large chunks of money into it—this is just my opinion. Contact: hamza.nkuutu@gmail.com